As I walk home
With you tonight
Just like my heart
The moon was bright

The stars like ours
Were twinkling eyes
A match made in heaven
Oh sweet surprise
- Tia Maria.

Milos, breathing heavily, turns and looks at the creature before him. She is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Visibly tall, about 5ft 7 inches, long, shapely legs, skin as brown as chocolate. Her tattered dress does very little to hide her shapely curves. His gaze travels to her face, and rests on the biggest and brownest eyes he has ever encountered. He registers the look of horror on her face, and her paralysis, caused by fear. He immediately remembers that he is still in his wolf form. He transforms quickly and advances towards her. She whimpers, and crawls backward, with tears in her bloodshot eyes. He takes a closer look at her face, and realization dawns on him. This is the lady in his dream. Although he did not see her face then, he just knows that it is the same woman.

“Please don’t hurt me” she whispers shakily, and this melts Milos’ heart. He would never hurt such an innocent and delicate soul.

“I will never hurt you,” he says.

She still does not relax, despite his reassurance, and she tries to run. He catches up with her and holds her firmly.

He asks for her name.

“My name is Wanda. Please, let me go, I am sorry I came here, they told me it would be fun.”

“Who, Wanda?” Milos asks.

“My friends, Kane and Atticus.” She responds and bursts into tears.

Milo feels his heart wrench, and he tries to pacify her. He is curious about her friends, and what brought them into this notoriously dangerous forest.

“Where are they now? What exactly happened?” he asks.

Amidst tears, she explains the events that brought her to this point.

It happened that her two male friends, Kane and Atticus, read about the Taga Wereforest, and how hiking in this forest was a special experience, and since she loved to hike, she went on the trip with them. They had packed food supplies, a first aid kit, and Atticus had a fully-loaded gun. They arrived at the forest, and they hike at the mouth of the forest, not venturing into the inner parts, as they had earlier agreed. However, the guys got bored and decided to go deeper into the forest, and she disagreed. However, they prevailed, and she had to go with them, as she alone could not stay in the truck they had come with, it was not safe.

She trod slowly and cautiously behind them, saying the rosary as she hiked. All was going well, and they had hiked for almost two hours, when Kane missed a step and fell on a large pile of sharp stones, suffering a deep wound on his leg. He was bleeding profusely, and Wanda quickly dressed his wound. They decided to leave the forest as they could no longer continue the hike.

Little did they know that the wolves had caught a whiff of human blood. And they were coming.

They heard a low, deep growl behind them, and they started to run. However, it was too late, as in a matter of seconds, Kane, the weakest among them, was killed by one of the three wolves. Atticus cocked his gun and shot at all three wolves. His shots were quick and successive. Wanda hid behind him for protection, and he told her to keep going. She had been reluctant to go, but she later succumbed. Atticus kept shooting at the wolves, and this angered them. However, they were not injured, and the bullets fell off their bodies. They circled him and soon, he was ripped apart.

Wanda kept running, as fast as her already weak legs could carry her, adrenaline at its peak.

The gunshots stopped.

Wanda’s instinct told her that Atticus was dead, but she kept racing. She stopped dead in her tracks when the three wolves appeared right in front of her. She screamed her lungs out, and closed her eyes, awaiting her death. However, the wolves had different plans. They changed into humans, and they dragged her through the forest. It was about 8 pm at this time. Wanda flailed, kicked, bit, screamed, begged, but they did not listen or budge. They told her they were going to fuck the hell out of her, and then slay her like they did her two friends.

They stopped at the base of a tree, after what seemed like an eternity. There, they began to touch her boobs and her ass. One of them even put his dick in her mouth and asked her to give him a blowjob, while the others watched, their penises, rock-hard. They hit her several times and passed her around. One of them tore her dress, and she screamed.

“That was when you saved me”, she says, looking cautiously at Milos. She still doesn’t trust him. He can see that.

“Come with me,” Milos says, and he extends his hand to her.

“I am not going with you. I just want to go home”
“Wanda, I am sorry, but you can’t go home, not anymore. The other Rogues will find and kill you, as a way of revenging their brothers’ deaths, and next time, you won’t be so lucky” Milo explains.

“Who are the Rogues?” Wanda asks, confusion knotting her brows.

Milo succinctly elucidates the nature, and identity of the Rogues and that of the Conscientious Pack, and Wanda is dumbfounded.

“You see why you have to come with me to my territory?” Milos asks.

“Yes, I do. Only you can keep me safe”.

Milos smiles, and nods. He extends his hand to her, and she takes it. He then carries her over his shoulder and walks towards the Conscientious Pack’s territory.

***************************************************************************
They arrive at the territory of the Pack, and Wanda is stupefied. It looks just like her city, Heraklion. Some of the buildings here are even much better than those she has seen. Although it is almost midnight, there are lights everywhere, so beautiful. Milos calls a maid, who takes her straight to her room. There, she is bathed, and given a massage. The masseuse is really good, as Wanda feels rejuvenated and refreshed, after the sequence of unpalatable events of the day. Food is brought to her, but she refuses to eat. She is devastated, and she mourns the death of her friends.

Milos knocks on her door the next morning, and she asks him to come in.

“Good morning, Wanda. I hope you slept well”

“Not really, M-ilos. I really miss my friends. They did not deserve to die that way, no one does.” She says and begins to cry.

Milos moves towards her and hugs her “I am so sorry about your friends. I know they meant a lot to you, and I know that you loved them. I wish I had been there to help.”

“It is okay, Milos, there’s nothing we can do now.” She sniffs.

There is a knock on the bedroom door. It is Petra, Wanda’s newly assigned steward. She informs them that breakfast is ready. Milos leaves the room, and Wanda gets out of bed in order to freshen up for breakfast. She examines her face in the large mirror in her bathroom. Her life has changed in just one day. She remembers her school, her other friends, and her little feline companion, Alexis. Tears cascade down her face, and she does nothing to stop them.

Wanda is an orphan. Her parents died in an auto-crash about four years ago, and since then, she had to live with Atticus. They were practically siblings, and his parents were really nice to her. They must have started to search for them. They will soon file missing persons’ reports for them.

Fresh tears trickle down her face, and she wipes her face with the back of her hand.

I will survive. I will do all I can to enjoy my new life. I refuse to feel sorry for myself.

She brushes her teeth and showers. After, she applies a sweet-smelling cream to her hair and dons a jean jumpsuit. She plaits her long, black hair into Bantu knots, applies some lip gloss, and walks downstairs.

She asks Petra for directions to the dining room, and the latter leads her there. Wanda does a double-take when she sees how magnificent the room is. The table is made of seemingly expensive wood, and it is painted in white, likewise all the chairs. There are chandeliers hanging from the roof, and the whole table is filled with food.

Do wolves eat this much? I hope they don’t read my thoughts. I’d be damned.

Wanda chuckles to herself and takes a seat at the table, beside Milos. Seated at the head of the table is an old, yet a confident man. Next to him, and opposite Milos, is another man, though a little younger than the old man at the head of the table. Directly opposite Wanda, is a woman, with soft, blue eyes. Wanda later comes to realize that they are: Alpha, Beta, and the Beta’s mate respectively.